Klarisa Abriam, St. Benilde pick up second win, keep Lyceum winless

Klarisa Abriam and the College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers made short work of Lyceum, thumping the Lady Pirates in straight sets, 25-19, 25-12, 25-17, in the 2019 PVL Collegiate Conference, Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Blazers seized control in the decisive third set with a commanding 22-15 advantage until Joan Doguna tried to spark a fightback for Lyceum. She pierced through St. Benilde’s defense, uncorking consecutive hits that trimmed the deficit to five.

However, Marites Pablo doused Doguna in the ensuing play before the latter committed back-to-back errors, allowing the Lady Blazers to hike their win-loss record to 2-1.

“Happy tayo na we got the win and then nakapag-execute tayo,” St. Benilde head coach Jerry Yee said. “Every time we get a win, malaking tulong ‘yun sa ‘yo.”

Abriam was the lone double-digit scorer in the 73-minute match. She hammered down 10 attacks for 12 points to lead a balanced offense for St. Benilde.

Michelle Gamit supplied nine markers — spiked by two kill blocks. Meanwhile, Gayle Pascual chipped eight points, all coming from attacks. Mycah Go contributed four markers, 10 excellent digs, and five excellent receptions.

Jewel Lai tossed 16 excellent sets for the Lady Blazers, who saw nine players tally a point in the victory.

Still, despite the convincing win, Yee believes that the performance of his wards can still be improved, emphasizing consistency in close-quarter battles.

“Aggressive tayo at times, we executed at times but then, ‘yun na nga, we want to be consistent. Dapat hindi tayo nara-rattle pagkadidikitan tayo ng kalaban,” he added.

On the other hand, the Lady Pirates remained winless after three matches.

Doguna and Mary Joy Onofre had eight markers each for Lyceum. The former poured in all of her points off of attacks while the latter notched two blocks and an ace.

Alex Rafael managed five points while Jane Sevilla chimed in four markers to go along with 10 excellent digs. Venice Puzon dished out 13 excellent sets while collecting seven excellent digs.